By Stuart Gillespie at the Paisley 2021 Stadium
A late John Sutton goal gave Saints a point against rivals Morton today. Saints boss Alex Rae looks back on the game.
The manager admitted his side were lucky not to be further behind after the opening exchanges and said: “We rode our luck for the first 30 minutes but I thought we started to work our way in in the latter stages of the half and Clarkson had a couple of wee chances. In terms of the overall play in the second half we went to three at the back to put on more attacking options.
“We didn’t have a great deal of quality from certain areas. I wanted them to play when it was on to play and maybe be a bit more direct at times and they were maybe being caught between the two. In terms of the effort I think for an hour, after the first 30 minutes, we showed the character you expect from a derby.”
Saints fans would have been worried as Morton dominated the first half hour and Alex added: “You start questioning the character of the players and where are the leaders. We’ve all played in derbies. It’s about setting the tone, we didn’t get near them – we didn’t lay a glove on them. In the second half they rarely got in behind us so the defenders were putting themselves in the right areas, which allows you to get a foothold in the game and gather a bit of momentum.”